The final 3 podcasts have just been released!
Podcast #021: Loose Ends includes several tips and tricks that didn’t fit into the other podcasts.
Podcast #022: Music is an audio-only interview with composer Christopher Reyman.
Podcast #023: Sound Design is an audio-only interview with sound designer David Bewley.
Podcast #020: Animation Techniques is online and talks about the two different approaches to CG animation: Pose-to-Pose and Layered
One of the 3D artists who worked on PI is currently looking for a job. He’s been in Germany for the last two years and is willing to relocate anywhere within Deutschland. My website statistics show that there’s a good number of visitors from Germany so hopefully this will find its way to someone looking for a good generalist.
3d Demonstration Reel from eburke on Vimeo.
I just have to say I’m so proud of Eric. When he worked on PI (mostly helping out with the cars) he only had a couple months of 3D experience, but he’s come a very long way in a short amount of time. If he’s got a reel like that after less than 2 years in the industry, I can’t wait to see what his next reel looks like!
Joaquin Baldwin just posted his new animated short online. If you’ve followed the blog for a while, he’s also the director of Sebastian’s Voodoo which has played with PI at several festivals. I got a chance to see this film while it was still a work in progress, so its great to see it finally finished and out in the world for all to enjoy!
For more information, go to Joaquin’s website.
Two more awesome shorts from the festival circuit have just gone online!
The first is Jim Capobianco’s “Leonardo.” From what I understand it will only be online until April 26, 2010. You have to register to watch and vote, but its well worth it and you’ll get that warm fuzzy feeling of helping out a fellow animator. 
(Click the image to watch)
The next is Mike Dacko’s “Lightheaded” which shared the 1st place animation award with PI at Rhode Island IFF.
Right after I posted my thoughts on HTTYD, the publicity image I included really caught my eye, specifically how the animator used the pose to lead the audiences’ eyes through the frame.
Here’s the untouched version:
And here’s a version where I’ve highlighted several of the key lines.
I’ll talk more about this concept in an upcoming podcast, but this still is just so perfect in many ways that I had to share. First off, if you’re not familiar with this idea, the basic rule of thumb is that you want the lines of your pose to lead the audiences eye towards the most important part of the image. Usually this is the eyes of the main character.
I’d argue that the most prominent line is the one I highlighted in red, and the reason that its so great is that it not only shows off a perfect use of this technique, but a perfect example of how you can break the rule to achieve a certain effect. Notice how Hiccup’s right hand isn’t pointing towards Toothless’s eye? You’d think that would be such an easy way to make that red line even better right? Well, in the context of this shot, its clear that Hiccup is protecting toothless. And guess what happens if we pull out all of those extra “pretty lines” to highlight the two most important ones in the shot?
Boom. Hiccup is now forming a perfect triangle with his body that encompasses Toothless’s head. Its a very protective gesture that uses this concept to enhance and re-enforce what the pose is trying to convey.
A huge congrats to whoever did this shot. If anyone knows who it was, I’d be very curious to hear if that really was their intent, or if I’m just intellectualizing. Something tells me that you don’t just get something that beautiful and simple without a whole lot of planning.
Just saw HTTYD. Wow. Absolutely fantastic. Definitely worth seeing in the theater if you haven’t already. Of course from a technical side, everything was pretty much flawless. I dug the art direction and the animation style. It felt very Kung Fu Panda in the way that they kept things simple and didn’t try to over-clutter the frame.
My only issue with it was the story. Not that it wasn’t good, quite the opposite in fact. I really felt for the characters and was pulled into the world, but I felt like the idea was so good that I wanted to see them milk it a little bit more, both in terms of humor and more heartfelt emotion.
—Spoiler alert—
Probably the best example of this was towards the end where Hiccup finally wins his dad’s approval BEFORE he goes into the final battle and defeats the big bad. I liked how the dad was the one who freed Toothless, but that resolution would have been so much more effective after the final battle because then when the dad is worried that he’s lost his son, it would be more powerful because they have unresolved tension between them.
A similar thing happened when Dad realized that Hiccup had befriended Toothless. Hiccup wanted a chance to explain, but that moment was snatched away by a little action sequence of the fiery dragon attacking and Toothless defending Hiccup. I really wanted Hiccup to get that moment to explain because it would have given the audience hope that he’d finally be able to get through to his father, and then it would be even stronger when the father rejected his explanation. That good old head-fake sucker punch to make things pop.
I don’t want to keep picking things apart because like I said, I really liked it as a whole. I guess I just saw some unrealized potential in there that could have been fixed pretty easily with some slight structural changes. The end result felt a bit like the cake had been iced before it had been fully cooked, and they had to fix the problems with frosting instead of really nailing the structure and letting the details decorate and enhance it.
This is a great resource for explaining the animation process to clients. After all, it never hurts to have one more arrow in your quiver.
I don’t know why the process is so difficult to wrap your head around at first, but when I think back to where I was when I started it, I had no idea how things flowed from one part to the next. Maybe because its all in the computer, its not intuitive. For instance, on a live action film, its easy to understand casting, location scouting, lighting, shooting, editing, etc. because they’re all real-world activities or have some real world equivalent (i.e. editing on a flatbed). In CG, the idea that you can’t animate a character before you rig it is very abstract for most people, especially if you don’t understand what rigging or animation is. Its all just computer-y stuff.
I saw this today on Victor Navone’s blog and had to share…
Elk Hair Caddis from peter smith on Vimeo.
I’m always on the lookout for cool and different styles. After all, few would argue that my personal style tends to be pretty mainstream, but I still love to see stuff that’s outside of that paradigm. This reminds me a little bit of Meindbender, but not in a copying sort of way, just the general aesthetic. I love their use of real/miniature BG elements and that cool silhouette character design.
I’m really excited that PI has become part of Spike and Mike’s touring festival. The lineup changes, but a few friends were at the Sick and Twisted screening at the Alamo Drafthouse this weekend and said that Pigeon: Impossible opened the show, almost as if it were a short film before the “Sick and Twisted” feature presentation. So cool!!!
Ever since Animwatch disappeared I’ve been wanting to start an archive of animated shorts, but I just came across Steve Bondi’s site. Needless to say his list is pretty thorough and very up-to-date which is always the hardest part. I was thrilled that PI made it into his top picks, although I’ve got personal favorites scattered all over the list. Note that the 
icon will let you watch the short online if its available.
On a strangely related note, Jo Hunter posted an awesome pic of his cats watching PI rather intently. I don’t know about you, but I think the hollywood execs have missed a major opportunity by only marketing to humans.
And last but not least, I finally got a chance to upload a highlight reel of Pigeon: Impossible winning the Mopti Award at KLIK! Hopefully the video explains it well enough. This is hands down one of the coolest awards a film could get and such an honor that PI has crossed continents, cultures, and language barriers and still found an audience…
